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Virgin Blue Launches Non Stop Sydney-Perth Flights

15/05/2002

$199* One Way Brand New Route Deserves Brand New Aircraft

Virgin Blue will begin non-stop daily flights between Sydney and Perth next month after solid support for existing Perth services and huge demand for a direct flight between the two key capital cities.

Australia’s low fare airline launched flights from both Melbourne and Adelaide to Perth last December and the airline has recorded strong loads on both routes.

Chief Executive Brett Godfrey said, While initially low fares were the bait, Guests have realised that not only is our leg room on our brand new fleet competitive with the other guys economy class, our award winning service is world class and our reliability is second to none. These are the attributes that make a great airline, not snack packs and points.

Virgin Blue recently doubled its Melbourne-Perth flights in response to an increasing business market demand and will now add Sydney-Perth flights to its route network from June 18.

A special launch fare of $199* one way will be on offer from now until Friday May 24, for the first 99 seats on all flights for travel between June 18 to July 4.

Everyday low fares will start from $229* one way on the net, with a $569* one way on the net Fully Flexible fare, approximately 30% cheaper than the competition’s one way Fully Flexible fare.

Brett Godfrey said, We have a brand new 737-800 aircraft arriving in mid June direct from the Boeing factory in Seattle which has been earmarked for the Sydney-Perth route. This means travellers will be flying across the Nullabor in the most modern aircraft operating in Australian skies.

According to Brett Godfrey, the staggering lack of availability of low fares on routes Virgin Blue doesn't fly, clearly demonstrates that the monopoly is hurting both tourism and business travellers.

We are confident that air fares offered by our competition on this key route will follow the trend of all Virgin Blue’s new launch routes and suddenly become more reasonable and more available. This will be great news for tourism in both states as well as for our Guests travelling on business.

Virgin Blue’s decision to begin the Perth-Sydney flights was made following fruitful discussions and assurances from W.A. Premier Dr Geoff Gallop and Government representatives that interstate Government travel won't be the exclusive privilege of one airline.

We believe that if you want competition, you have to support competition and we welcome the W.A Government’s moves to ensure that all Government departments consider using Virgin Blue on routes we fly and where we will save taxpayer dollars, finished Brett Godfrey.

While initially Virgin Blue will operate one non stop flight a day, the airline will continue to add services to meet demand and corporate frequency requirements on all W.A routes.

All times local

* All fares exclude passenger ticket levy, airport charges and the global security charge and are for flights booked on the Internet. $5 more by phone.

* Virgin Blue has worked closely with the ACCC during recent months to move towards transparent all- inclusive pricing. The airline is presently in the process of updating its systems to implement this change. In the meantime, please note that all fares mentioned are subject to taxes and surcharges totaling between $11.82 and $15.56 per passenger.